Hybridizes with : Shallon (Gaultheria shallon) to produce Gaultheria mucronata × shallon with no common name, but which hasn't been seen in the UK since the turn of the 20th Century, and even then was only found in one place in Ireland and one place near Portsmouth.

Some similarities to : Shallon (Gaultheria shallon) and Labrador Tea (Ledum palustre), both members of the same Heath family as Prickly Heath. Also similar to Darley Dale Heath which also has white bell-shaped flowers, but in this case the petals are not curved upwards, and the bells are longer and have a stigma protruding.

Uniquely identifiable characteristics

Distinguishing Feature :

No relation to : Prickly Lettuce, Prickly Saltwort, Prickly Poppy or Prickly Sow-Thistle [plants with similar names].

A thicket-forming suckering shrub up to 1.5 metres high. It is naturalised in scrub and woods, often on sand, but here on the slopes of acidic moorland which was once a spoil-tip for shale from the mining of coal. The spoil and shale is only just beneath the surface soil. The berries, pink to magenta here, can be white, pink, or magenta.